The Annual Convocation Of IIIT, at GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium Hyderabad On 31st July 2004 at 11 A.M.

Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Prof. Rajeev Sangal, Director, Intrernational Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, distinguished guests, students, ladies & gentlemen

I am happy to be here at Hyderabad at the 3rd convocation of International Institute of Information Technology.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) today permeates almost every sphere of human endeavour. Investment in ICT has the largest multiplier effect rippling through the economy. The ranks of countries investing heavily in Research & Development and Information Infrastructure are growing steadily. They are also benchmarking the success of their e-Governance initiatives in terms of the resultant increase in competitiveness at the national level. In fact, the World Information Technology and Global Competitiveness Report considers a country’s IT and network readiness as important parameters for assessing the degree of its transformation into a knowledge based economy.

The software and services industry continues to be the dominant factor in the overall growth of the Indian industry. The total value of software and services export is estimated at Rs. 55,510 crore (US$ 12.2 billion) in 2003-04, an increase of 20.4 per cent in rupee terms and 28 per cent in dollar terms. This segment will continue to show robust growth in future also.

The Indian IT Enabled Services – Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) sector has emerged as a key driver of growth for the Indian software and services industry. The ITES-BPO industry is estimated to have grown by about 54 per cent, with export revenues of $ 3.6 billion during 2003-04. The ITES-BPO industry continues its upward growth spiral on service lines like customer care, finance, Human Resources, administration, billing and payment services. New verticals such as engineering design, drug discovery, risk assessment are emerging with a vast potential for value addition.

India has become one of the most preferred destinations for sourcing software and IT enabled services. In comparison to other low cost locations, India ranks high in several critical parameters, including level of government support, quality of the labour pool, English language skills, project management skills, enterpreneurial culture, strong customer relationships and exposure to new technologies. India’s strength has been enhanced by the industry’s strong focus on quality software and processes.

Indian IT, Software & services industry is expected to account for 2.64 per cent of India’s GDP & 21.3 per cent of exports during 2003-04 and, is projected to account for 7 per cent of India’s GDP & 35% per cent of exports by 2008. The Nasscom McKinsey Report of June 2002 has reiterated that despite recent slow down the IT Services (ITS) & IT Enabled Services (ITES), the industry is poised to meet its long term export potential of US$ 57-65 billion for the Software & Services sector by 2008. This means a share of 6% of the global market.

With the penetration of Information Technology in all the spheres of life, IT has become an important element in education. Hence, Human Resource Development focuses on all aspects relating to IT education and electronics in the country at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. It also focuses on vocational training, which is critical for creating the skilled manpower needed for operation and maintenance of the capital equipment used in IT enabled services.

As per the estimates projected by the Task Force on Meeting the Human Resource Challenge for IT & IT Enabled Services, the country would need around 0.97 million IT professionals for IT export services & 2.72 million for ITES by 2012. The Task Force has further projected that the manpower required for domestic & captive IT Services would also amount to an additional 0.5 million in 2008-09 and one million in 2012.

The Department of Information Technology emphasises upon IT enabled education and a number of E-Learning projects have been sponsored in collaboration with leading academic institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Science (IISs), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC) and Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani.

The long term objective of Department of Information Technology (DIT) is to promote IT based general education and IT based education itself. A number of programmes are being initiated by DIT, which provide financial support for educating the weaker sections of the society in the areas of information technology resulting in employment generation and entrepreneurship development.

Currently, a number of initiatives has been taken by DIT in regard to creation of a workforce of trained IT professionals to meet the demand of IT Hard Core Sector (i.e. Software Design, Software Development & Software Management ) & ITES such as Customer Care (Database Marketing, Call Centres, Sales etc.), Finance Services (Billing, Risk Management etc.), Payment Services (Credit/Debit Cards etc.), Content Development (Design/Animation), Human Resources (Education & Training, Recruitment etc.), Administration (Tax, Claims Processing, Consultancy etc).

International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad is a new generation institution set up to produce manpower and new technologies to power the IT industry. It has already become a prime destination for students in India seeking high-quality education in IT.

It is heartening to note that as an IT institution, IIIT Hyderabad has tried to combine education in Computer Science with Electronics and Communications. This is the age of convergence of hardware and software. I am told that at this Institution computer scientists are also taught electronics, while electronics engineers learn software development too.

The Institute has unique curricula which allow undergraduate students to do research. It has a Research Exchange programme with some of the top universities in the world, such as Carnegie Mellon, Illinois, Pennsylvania. This is a direction in which every educational institution must move towards.

I am happy to note that the Institute has chosen research as its primary focus. The research programs needs to concentrate on societal & industrial applications so that fruits of research reach the common man.

I have heard about the Institute’s expertise in language technology. The Institute also works in the area of IT in school education, PDAs for rural applications, e-Governance and IT in agriculture. It is important that the benefits of these initiatives reach the common man in rural areas. I urge the Institute to continue with these initiatives and show through your examples what the IT can do for the common man.

The Institute needs to encourage enterpreneurship, and transfer of technology to industry. Indian software industry has earned a name for itself for quality and cost effectiveness. I suggest that we develop new models of collaboration between R&D and software industry so that Indian industry climbs up the value chain. As the IT industry moves up the value-chain, it will need doctorates and other highly trained manpower in IT to execute high value contracts. We must increase our Ph.D output every year.

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) have also sponsored a number of Development Projects at this Institute in the areas of language technologies and communication technologies as well as on expert system. All these projects worth Rs. 3.5 crore are in advance stages of implementation. The National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) has jointly been set up by the DIT, the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and the industry in the campus of IIIT Hyderabad. The NISG is mandated to contribute to the e-government initiatives in the country by leveraging private sector resources and competencies and providing programme support in the areas of planning, technology selection & dissemination of best practices. The NISG works closely with the Institute’s Centre of e-Governance.

I thank the Director of the Institute for inviting me to this function. I wish the graduates of the class of 2004 Godspeed and compliment IIIT Hyderabad for maintaining such high standards of education.

Thank you